Saturday, 6 August 2011

In Which There Are Books, A Boat, and More Blackberries

A little while ago I saw this article in the Guardian about The Book Barge, and saw that it would be visitng Bradford on Avon (this weekend) and Bath (next week).

as it happened , I had to go over to Bradford on Avon so I had the perfect opportunity to go to see the Barge.

I saw on Twitter that owner/skipper Sarah needed milk, so picked up a pint on my way in, then strolled along through the park. On my way, I passed a wedding party, a posh picnic featuring champagne and strawberries, a group of children paddling in the river with a large dog of indeterminate breed, and a cricket match - in fact, practically everything (other than a sudden rain-storm) which you might expect of a British summer!

The barge is wonderful - there's an excellent selection of new and used books, plus mugs, cards, postcards and (at least if you turn up bearing milk!) the offer of a nice cup of tea and some banana bread!

I left with three new-to-me books, and felt I had an excellent bargain, as Sarah insisted on my having one of the books in barter for the milk (I feel sure I got the best out of that deal!) If the Book Barge goes anywhere near you, go visit it!

Oh, and the blackberries? I made another small batch last night/this morning - I ended up with a smaller volume of jelly this time - only one and a half jars, but then picked another couple of pounds of berries this morning, which have now reached the 'hang up to strain for at least 12 hours' stage of the recipe so I should be able to pot this batch 1st thing tomorrow morning.

At this rate I may have to bake some scones, soon, in order to have something to eat bramble jelly off!﻿